The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 135

135. Mr. Marines (1)

Four years, eleven billion won.

That was the contract No Hyung-wook, the hitter from the Incheon Dragons, signed when he chose the Busan Marines. For context, he was quite angry at the time because his former team, the Dragons, had only offered him four years and eight billion won.

For about three years leading up to his free agency (FA), he was one of the best second basemen in the league. So, frankly, the offer felt insulting.

Even considering that Park Dong-seok of the Jaguars, whose batting average was similar to his for the previous two years, had received eleven billion won for four years as a FA a year earlier, even though their overall stats were quite different.

In reality, eight billion or eleven billion won was a huge amount of money for No Hyung-wook. Moreover, after taxes and deductible expenses, the actual amount received wouldn’t differ by three billion won.

However, the amount is still important because it represents a player’s value beyond just money. If the Dragons really wanted to keep him, they should have shown some effort to make up for the insufficient amount. No Hyung-wook felt that the Dragons’ eight billion won was as good as telling him to leave.

Therefore, No Hyung-wook only looked at the amount.

Yes, he really only looked at the amount. So, even though the Suwon Dolphins offered ten billion won, he came to the Marines, who offered one billion won more.

But the Dragons won the championship the year before last, and the Dolphins won it last year.

In the midst of that, the Dragons’ championship seemed to prove the saying, “ㅋㅋㅋ See, I told you I didn’t need you?”

It stung.

Moreover, this team called the Marines was a real mess. Job satisfaction inevitably comes from relationships with colleagues. In the Dragons, No Hyung-wook was a true core hitter. Not just in the 3rd or 4th batting order, but at the center of the team. But here in the Marines, he was just *in* the core batting order, and he felt far from the center of the team.

Even more so than Lee Jung-hoon, who was currently flustered.

“Yes… Yes? No, that’s…”

“Why are you so flustered? What is it?”

“No, it’s just that Suwon told me a few batting tips, but they’re not really working.”

“Tips? You and Suwon have completely different batting styles, what tips?”

No Hyung-wook’s gaze turned to the mound.

And at the same time, his voice became very low.

“Don’t tell me Gwang-hyung [referring to Im Gwang-hyung, the pitcher] found some kind of tell or something?”

“No…”

“Hey, Lee Jung-hoon. I can understand with other people, but are you doing this to me too?”

Broadly speaking, there are three factions in the Marines.

Lee Jung-hoon was in charge of entertainment among them, and No Hyung-wook represented the individualistic side. But since they were both not part of the ‘royal family’ [the dominant clique within the team], they were on the opposite side of those guys. Moreover, unlike Kang Ra-on, who hated entertainment, No Hyung-wook didn’t mind it that much, so he sometimes hung out with Lee Jung-hoon and they were quite close.

“No… Sigh. I don’t know. Hyung [older brother, a term of respect]. You really have to keep this to yourself. It’s not that it’s certain information, and if you’re conscious of it, it can be even more confusing.”

“What is it?”

“Suwon says that Gwang-myeong’s elbow angle drops a bit when he throws a changeup.”

“Elbow angle?”

No Hyung-wook thought for a moment.

“Come to think of it, all the balls Suwon hit for home runs were changeups, right?”

“Yes, Suwon says he gets a good feel for it, but I don’t really know. It’s more confusing for me…”

“Wait a minute. Let’s call Suwon over here. I think we need to talk about this.”

***

Lee Jung-hoon scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

Seriously, this guy can’t stand it for a second…

“I heard from Jung-hoon that Gwang-hyung’s elbow drops a bit when he throws a changeup.”

“Yes. Actually, I wasn’t sure until I saw a few changeups in the first at-bat, but now I’m sure.”

“Really?”

Our attack in the top of the 5th inning starts with the 6th hitter, Kang Ra-on.

Im Gwang-hyung on the mound wound up. Watching from the dugout is inevitably different from watching from the plate. The concentration is different, and the viewpoint is a bit different. But just checking whether the elbow went up or down was actually easier.

“It’s a changeup.”

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!!!”

Ball count 0-1.

No Hyung-wook’s eyes widened.

Following Im Gwang-hyung’s pitches.

No Hyung-wook was an even better hitter than Lee Jung-hoon. If you lined up all the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] hitters in order of skill right now, it would be hard to be sure about the top ten, but if you used all your fingers and toes, he would definitely be in there.

“I pride myself on having good eyes, but this is too difficult… I know why you didn’t say anything.”

“I know, right? At first, I was just going to say it, but after standing at the plate for one at-bat, I told Suwon to shut up. I mean, what’s dropping about the elbow…”

“No, it seems like it *is* dropping.”

“Yes?”

“But I can see it a bit because I’m looking at the side view from the dugout, but from the front… I’m not sure. Gwang-hyung is famous for his good deception. You probably won’t see it from the front.”

“No, so you’re saying you can tell the difference?”

“Yeah, that’s a changeup right now.”

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Lee Joo-hyuk’s swing beautifully cut through the air, and the inning ended cleanly with a three-batter strikeout.

This inning, Im Gwang-hyung on the mound didn’t even break a sweat.

[The score is still 2:3. Bottom of the 5th inning. Choi Min-hyuk comes back to the mound.]

[Choi Min-hyuk has given up 3 runs in 4 innings so far, but he’s been doing a pretty good job of continuing the game.]

[If you look, Choi Min-hyuk tends to give up runs in bunches while continuing the game well. That was the case in his last appearance, and he gave up 3 points in the 2nd inning today as well. He was also getting hit hard by the lower batting order. I wonder what will happen this inning. The 1st hitter, Oh Min-yeop, comes to the plate.]

At this point, there are only three players with excellent skills that don’t quite fit in with the Phoenix.

Choi Gwang-min, the eternal runner-up who is burning his last flame at the age of forty-two, Jung Byung-chul, the catcher who may win the MVP in a place where I am not, and Oh Min-yeop, the Golden Glove shortstop from last season.

-Clang!!!

Already the third at-bat.

His bat didn’t miss Choi Min-hyuk’s ball.

A center-field hit that went over the shortstop’s head.

He stopped running as he passed first base and tried to run to second.

“Hoo… Anyway, Lee Joo-hyuk is uselessly fast.”

Full-time for the second year this year.

A military-completed shortstop who solved his military service as soon as he entered the pros. I had a bit of a connection with him. Oh Min-yeop was the number one contributor to the Marines’ victory in that grand *byeongnip sik* [a derogatory term for a competition where everyone is equally bad], which was even called the Choi Su-won Cup two years ago.

In the late 2025 season, he played a great role in both offense and defense, and as a result, the Marines had 100 losses in the season. And the Phoenix had 99 losses in the season, so the Marines eventually got the overall number 1 pick in the 27 draft and nominated me.

“I should have made an error back then.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know that we had a worse record against the Marines in ’25? If we had 100 losses, we would have been last. If that had happened, you would be wearing our uniform now.”

Oh Min-yeop grumbled, taking off his protective gear and handing it to the batboy.

“But then there wouldn’t have been Oh Min-yeop, the Golden Glove shortstop of 2026. You made a good impression on the coach back then and became a fixed member of the first team.”

“Is that so?”

The Phoenix has a conservative team management.

Very much so. As a result, the average age of the Phoenix players was among the highest of the 10 teams.

In the early 20s, they said they would make the team younger, but that was only for a while. The age of the team became younger for a moment, but the conservative operation did not change, so as those players got older, the average age of the team naturally went up again.

“Tsk… I heard the rumor that you don’t have any charm. You really don’t have any charm.”

“But I’m good at baseball instead.”

“Yeah, I admit that. Well, it’s okay if you don’t have any charm as long as you’re good at baseball. It’s a shame. If we had Byung-chul and you, we could have made it to the fall baseball [playoffs] this year.”

“You can do it without me. You only need to be 5th out of 10 teams.”

“I thought so until last year? Hey, don’t even talk about it. There’s a reason why we haven’t been able to play fall baseball for decades. Ugh…”

“The Phoenix was last place last year, right?”

Oh Min-yeop frowned.

“Hey, you’re a home run hitter, so if you hit 2, it’s 2 RBIs. I had 4 hits, 2 of which were doubles, right? But do you know how many RBIs and runs I had that day?”

“0 points?”

“Oh, what? Are you my fan? Did you watch the game?”

“No, I just thought it would be like that in the context.”

“Anyway, in that sense, let’s take today’s game. It’s a game where Gwang-hyung is starting. If we don’t win at times like this, we won’t have any games to win. Besides, there’s no Choi Su-won in next year’s draft, so we can’t have 100 losses. Right?”

-Clang!!!

The 42-year-old old hitter.

The eternal runner-up, Chae Gwang-min’s hit went over the fence.

It was his first home run of the season.

***

2:5

Even though I hit two home runs, the road to victory was not visible.

-Clang!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Han Gyo-cheol’s clean looking strikeout.

No, I thought he should at least swing the bat, but then I gave up, thinking, well, the catcher’s at-bat is a break.

Meanwhile, Jo Yu-jin, who was sitting in that corner, was doing a great job of managing his expression. Yeah, if you show that you’re happy that your competitor’s batting is a mess here, that’s really trashy.

“Just wait. I’ll show you something this time.”

Following the 1st hitter, Seo Kyung-joon’s at-bat.

Lee Jung-hoon was spouting nonsense again and heading to the waiting batter’s box. I didn’t expect anything. So, the next one is the 7th inning. I was thinking that the attack would start with me, but just as I was about to show that I was at least pulling out a bat as a courtesy, No Hyung-wook spoke to me.

“Suwon, I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Yes? What are you thinking about?”

“I was thinking about what we need to do to win today’s game.”

Well…

No matter how much I think about it, I think Lee Jung-hoon has to get on base somehow, I have to hit home runs, and like Oh Min-yeop said, we have to make a move in the bottom of the 9th inning when Im Gwang-hyung goes down.

“But wouldn’t Gyu-man be able to do it?”

“Gyu-man?”

My gaze turned to the corner of the dugout.

There, our captain, who is hitting .207/.258/.207 this season, was staring at Im Gwang-hyung with a serious expression.